Let's see what Paul is saying in his letter to Timothy.
Welcome back to Part 4 of the Forbidden Food series. If you haven't read any of the other teachings, please check them out in the Teachings tab above.
In today's teaching, we will examine a letter Paul wrote to Timothy in the book of 1 Timothy. In this letter, Paul seems to say that nothing can be rejected when received with thanksgiving because it would be consecrated by the Word of God and prayer.
On this site, we have examined so many letters from Paul and one thing is for certain - Paul was a devoted disciple of Christ, who never taught anything that contradicted what Yeshua said. It is often misinterpretations, out-of-context verses, and mistranslations that lead to Christians finding their own version of Christianity in Paul's letters.
Let's see if we can deduce what Paul is saying in 1 Timothy 4:
1Ti 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
1Ti 4:2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
1Ti 4:3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
1Ti 4:5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
1Ti 4:6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
Do you think Paul, who followed God's Law his whole life, would preach to Timothy to not follow it correctly? No! So what is Paul saying here? In summary:
In later times, some followers or Christians will abandon the faith (1Ti 4:1). These people who will fall away will then forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods (1Ti 4:3)
Paul writes the people who do this have followed teachings by demons and whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron (1Ti 4:2)
All of these things that these people will do is AGAINST GOD's WORD. We know this because the teachings these people follow are demonic, and the enemy is 100% of the time against God's Word. So if you want to say that this verse is telling us to not keep God's Food Law, you are effectively saying that God's Food Law is against God's Word. Do you see the contradictions that arise when you take that stance?
Received with Thanksgiving
Even more obvious, Paul writes:
1Ti 4:3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
God created foods to be received with thanksgiving. God always told us to only eat clean animals. So unclean animals could not be received with thanksgiving. This Law was given to the Israelites, and by extension, to us, who believe and know the truth of God, who He is, and who Yeshua is. Even though Yeshua died and canceled our debt to God, if we are followers of God, we should follow Him as best as we can according to how he told us to follow him. Yeshua did the same, so why should we not?
Furthermore, in these verses:
1Ti 4:4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
1Ti 4:5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
Verse 5 is quite clear - the Word of God and prayer. What is the Word of God? What Word did Moses, Daniel, Yeshua, and all the disciples follow? They all followed the Law given by God - Which is the Word of God. Yeshua told us He follows everything His Father tells Him.
God told us what we could eat. He sanctified certain animals by saying they are clean - it is His Word that said this. Saying that unclean animals are sanctified all of a sudden by God's Word, is contradicting because God's Word firstly did not say we can eat unclean animals, and secondly, if you say God is sanctifying all unclean animals, God cannot be perfect, because he has contradicted himself with His own Law. I know God does not contradict himself.
Conclusion
In this letter, we examined Paul's letter to Timothy regarding a foretelling of when Christians will be deceived by demonic spirits and begin to preach things that are against God. In his letter, he used the example of forbidding people to marry and forbidding people to eat food God has made for thanksgiving.
We deduced from this paragraph that it is not possible to infer that God's Food Law is done away with, because the people preaching against food will be following demonic teachings - which are against God and His Word. God's food law is not demonic or originating from Satan, so saying God's Food Law is done away with, implies God's Word is against His commandments.
Reading further into the letter, we saw how Paul referred to food which was created by God and was made for thanksgiving for those who believe in the truth. Paul is talking about God's clean animals who he said we can eat and enjoy and to believers who know the Word (i.e. the Truth) and what it says.
Paul also mentioned everything created by God is good and can be consecrated by God's Word and prayer. This cannot be referring to food laws, as by saying things are sanctified by God's Word, and then reading God's Word, we see that God did indeed sanctify CLEAN animals, not unclean ones. Saying God's Word sanctifies unclean animals creates a contradiction against Himself.
I hope you enjoyed this teaching!
